Fundraising page best practices

1.0 Welcome

These best practices are for people who create a fundraising page using Give as you Live Donate. They are in addition to the Fundraising Regulator's guidance notes, which builds upon the Code of Fundraising Practice.

When creating a fundraising page, you will be asked to read and agree to these best practices, the Fundraising Regulator's guidance notes, and also our terms and conditions and privacy policy.

This document was last updated on 04 June 2019.

2.0 Beneficiaries

When creating a fundraising page, it is your responsibility to choose the charity you intend to raise money for. Your choice of charity is publicly displayed on your fundraising page.

You may only select one charity as the beneficiary and you may not change the charity once the fundraising page has been created. If you select the wrong charity in error, you may close the fundraising page and create a new one, however we cannot refund or redirect donations that have already been made unless in exceptional circumstances.

Give as you Live Donate is not a crowdfunding website - we only list charities on our website, as per our eligibility criteria. If the charity you wish to raise funds for is not listed, you can request that they be added.

3.0 Use of funds

Unless you have an agreement in place with your chosen charity regarding the use of funds raised via your fundraising page, you should avoid making definitive statements regarding the use of funds as we cannot guarantee how the charity will use the funds.

So rather than saying a charity "will" use funds in a certain way, it is better to say funds "may" or "can" be used in a certain way.

If you do have an agreement in place with your charity regarding use of funds, it is your responsibility to oversee this. It is also your responsibility to make clear to donors what happens if you do not raise enough for the charity to implement the agreed use of funds, if the target is exceeded and there are excess funds, or if the charity is unable to implement the agreed use of funds for any reason.

4.0 Who is fundraising

When creating a fundraising page, you can enter a name for the page owner and indicate whether this is an individual or a group.

You may instead choose the option "do not show a page owner" - this will stop an owner name from being displayed at the top of your fundraising page, on charity pages or on our search pages. If you do choose to do this, please use the description or story sections of your fundraising page to make clear who it is that is fundraising.

5.0 Targets

When creating a fundraising page, you can optionally set a fundraising target and/or an event date. Please be aware that the target and dates do not affect payments - either from donors or to charity.

Therefore, do not make statements that say or imply that funds won't be taken until your target or event end date has been reached, or that donations will be refunded if your target is not reached.

6.0 How to donate

Donations can only be taken via our website.

You may optionally add "offline amounts" to your fundraising page to represent donations raised away from our website. The total of such amounts is displayed on your fundraising page, however they do not contribute to your total or target. Donations you receive offline are also subject to these best practices, as well as the Fundraising Regulator's Code and guidance notes.

7.0 Gift Aid

When creating your fundraising page, you will be asked questions to ascertain if Gift Aid can be claimed for donations made to your fundraising page. You must answer these questions truthfully. If your fundraising page is not eligible for Gift Aid, then donors will not be able to add Gift Aid to their donation.

If your fundraising page is eligible for Gift Aid, then donors can optionally add Gift Aid to their donation. They will also be asked questions to ascertain if their donation is eligible. They must answer these questions truthfully. You must not encourage donors to falsify their answers.

8.0 Deductions and fees

There are no fees for creating a fundraising page on our website.

For donations made to your fundraising page, fees do apply to cover the processing and payment costs that may apply. We make it clear to donors that these fees apply before they complete their donation. Donors are able to 'top-up' their donation in order to cover the fees.

You should make clear to donors if any further deductions are to be made to the funds once received by the charity. Examples include travel, accommodation or other expenses.

9.0 Distribution of funds

When donors make their donation, payment is made to our payment partner, The Online Foundation via our payment processing partner, Stripe. Therefore, "The Online Foundation" will appear on donors' bank statements. The funds will then be sent to your chosen charity in line with our payment timetable and provided we have valid and verified payment details for the charity.

You should not state that donations will go direct to your chosen charity or make any incorrect statements regarding payment times.

10.0 Other page content

You are able to add various text and images to your fundraising page. As per our terms and conditions, when adding text and images to your fundraising page, you must do so a responsible and legal manner. For example, you must not upload any content that may be deemed offensive, or any content protected by copyright without permission. Further, you must not use fundraising pages to mispresent yourself or to mislead others.

11.0 Page removal

We reserve the right to close and remove fundraising pages which to not follow these best practices or which break our terms and conditions.

If this happens and donations have already been made to the fundraising page, we reserve the right to contact donors and offer a refund or, if the donation is yet to be paid to charity, redirect the donation to a different charity.

12.0 Any questions?

Please contact us if you have any questions or concerns regarding these best practices, or if you believe an existing fundraising page may break either these best practices or our terms and conditions.

We use cookies to improve your browsing experience on our site, show personalised content and targeted ads, analyse site traffic, and understand where our users are coming from. To find out more, please read our cookie policy. In addition, you may wish to read our privacy policy and terms & conditions. By clicking "I accept", you consent to our use of cookies.